WELLS — It’s no secret that Wells’ bread-and-butter is smash-mouth football, grinding out long drives and draining the clock.

Friday night against Lisbon, the Warriors threw in a new wrinkle – long touchdown plays.

Nolan Potter rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns, and the Warriors used three long scoring plays to claim a 36-6 victory against the Greyhounds.

The game between unbeaten opponents was lopsided. Wells (7-0) held a 416-150 advantage in yards against Lisbon (6-1).

Wells, last year’s Class C state champion now playing in Class D, played without Coach Tim Roche, who was sick. Carmen Perri became the acting head coach.

“Our defensive coordinator (Perri) does a great job of preparing us all week,” said Potter. “We watched a lot of film, but at the end of the day all the preparation is great, but we have good players and good athletes. We read (plays) well and had a strong game.”

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Lisbon Coach Chris Kates felt his team played well but simply couldn’t keep up.

“We did things well, but not enough things well to beat a team like this,” he said.

The Warriors scored on their first second-half possession for a 21-7 lead when Michael Wrigley (3 of 8, 85 yards) found Peyton MacKay on a 45-yard pass. MacKay slipped behind the Lisbon defender at the 5 and caught the ball at the 2 before getting into the end zone.

That touchdown came after the Warriors scored 1:05 before the half when Tyler Bridge (five carries, 82 yards) swept right and tip-toed down the sideline for a 63-yard scamper. He broke a tackle at the 50 and went in untouched.

“With a wing-T offense (like Wells runs), the one thing you don’t want is to be beat by the long pass play,” Kates said. “When a team is able to do that, it breaks your back.”

Wells opened the scoring with a tidy, three-play, 56-yard drive. It was culminated by a 48-yard scoring run by Jack Talevi, who broke a tackle in the backfield and got a huge block by lineman Sean McCormack-Kuhman 20 yards down field.

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The first of five Matt Tufts’ PATs made the score 7-0 with 2:25 left in the first quarter.

“The long touchdowns were big for us because it gives us great momentum while it kills (theirs),” said Potter. “The other team sees one or two of those and they think, ‘oh, geez, we can’t stop them.’ “

Lisbon was in position to get its first score after the Warriors’ first TD after a Lucas Francis to Henry Doyle 39-yard pass down the left sideline moved the ball to the Wells 9. But two false starts stalled the drive, and McCormack-Kuhman and Potter stuffed Francis at the 2 on fourth-and-goal.

The Greyhounds finally got their offense in synch with a 10-play, 73-yard drive. Another Francis-to-Doyle hookup – this time for 14 yards – gave Lisbon first-and-goal. Three plays later, Francis scored from the 2 on a keeper.

Potter capped the scoring with a 9-yard run up the middle 45 seconds into the fourth quarter and a 4-yard run on the next drive.

“(Lisbon) came out strong; they’re a very good team,” said Wells offensive coordinator Kevin Fox. “But we knew what we had to do. We kept coming and coming.”


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